‘The minute I sat at a knitting machine, I felt at home,” says Christine Murphy, explaining her route into design. She is the founder of Urban Aran, an Irish knitwear brand, and her success story is unusual.
Murphy, who is from Arklow originally and is now based in Waterford, established a successful career in hotel management for more than 20 years with the Doyle Group in Dublin, the Ritz Carlton in Enniskerry and Mount Juliet. While director of marketing at the Westbury, she became involved in the redesign of the hotel, particularly interested in sourcing and selecting colours and fabrics for the bedrooms.
Later as general manager of Mount Juliet, she designed bed covers. During this period she discovered that she could do a part-time knitwear course in the Limerick School of Art and Design while still maintaining her hotel career. She also studied with celebrated knitwear designer Liz Spillane.
Urban Aran was founded in 2017, and Murphy’s graffiti-inspired approach to knitwear (she was heavily influenced by the Waterford Walls project, where artists are commissioned to paint murals on the city walls) quickly found fans, appearing in Brown Thomas’s CREATE showcase for designers the following year. “Though I am not an artist, I hand-paint all my designs,” she says, of her colourful approach to pattern. “I enjoy experimenting.”
All her knits are produced in Ireland using luxury Italian wool and she has become skilled in using Stoll knitwear machinery (“very technical and very tricky”) in the Netherlands, training on software to translate technical drawings and stitch structures directly into the garment design.
Her current collection for autumn-winter will be showcased in Berlin for six months, having been selected last January at Showcase by a German company interested in supporting one Irish brand. “They felt Urban Aran had an edge and would speak to a German and Swiss customer,” she says.
Now using sophisticated digital technology and avatars, she uploads her patterns, which are hand drawn, to Stoll machinery which knits to shape, rather than cut and sewn, a technique that reduces waste. She is also producing a small collection for Guinness Storehouse which has recently opened a shop in London’s Carnaby Street. “They love colour and wanted contemporary knits so I am starting with a bandana, then a scarf and a T-shirt.”
Urban Aran autumn-winter 2026: Merino knit bomber with double-ended zip in imperial jade and burgundy, €425 
Urban Aran autumn-winter 2026: Long knit bomber with striped collar in fuschia, sunbeam, €425 
Urban Aran autumn-winter 2026: Fine merino sculpted-edge shoulder barrell, €395 
Urban Aran autumn-winter 2026: Long knit bomber with striped collar, €425
She is completing a large project with Adare Manor, designing all of their bedroom blankets. Other hotel projects in the offing include Abbey Glen, Dromoland Castle and Hayfield Manor.
For Adare, colours will be French navy, pearl (a creamy grey), and sand, shades to complement the tapestries. “I understand beds very well and despite wool’s qualities, I am using organic cotton rather than wool for the blankets because it is more durable with suitcases.”
Her autumn-winter collection, pictured here, is styled by Sinéad Keenan. Every piece is reversible, showing the bird’s eye detail on the reverse, and is on sale in Brown Thomas online and Galway; Avoca (three stores); Olori Boutique, Cork; Millars, Clifden, Co Galway; Kimono, Newcastle West and Adare Manor; and Muse, Waterford. urbanaran.ie
Christine Murphy will be a panel speaker for Design Week Dublin, taking part in Fashion Conversations with Coffee on Saturday, September 20th